Car retarder for railroads



Feb. 28, 1933.

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, ATTOR NEY vits Patented Feb. 28, 1933 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICEI WESLEY v. MOEGAN, OE ROCHESTER, NEW. YORK, AssieNOE To GEEE'RAL RAILWAY., SIGNAL COMPANY', 0E ROCHESTER, NEW YRK CAB. RETARDER :FORk RAILROADS Application led February 24, 1930. Serial No. 430,715-

This invention relates in general to car retarders of the track brake type, and has more particularl reference to an improved form of brake shoe and brake sh-oe beam in such retarders whereby to obviate all possibility of derailment of a car.

Itis most important in car retarders of the typeconcerned in this invention, that a'car passing through the retarder. be prevented from climbing out'of the retarder' and being derailed, with very likely damage to the retarder and the car. I

Withthe above and other considerations in mind, it is` proposed, in accordance with the v.

present invention, to provide a lform of retarder shoe and shoe beam such asto absolutely prevent any derailment of `any car passing through the retarder.

More specifically, it is proposed in accordance'with thisinvention to form the brake shoe and the shoe beam so as to have an upstanding flange at the inner side of each car wheel whereby, if a car should` climb out of this form of retarder, it will be impossible for the car to run ofi1 of the top of the retarder.

Further objects, purposes and characteristic features of the present invention will appear as the description progresses, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, showing, solely by way of example, and in no manner whatsoever in a limiting sense, two forms which the invention can assume. In the drawing Fig. 1 is a sectional diagrammatic view of one form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional diagrammatic view, to a larger scale, of the form of invention shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a sectional diagrammatic view of n I and brake beam at the inner or wheel a slightly modified form of the invention.

Fig. 3A is a fragmentary view of a further modified form.

Referring no-w to the drawing, and first to Fig. 1, there are here shown two track rails 1 which constitute a stretch of single track, on which roll wheels 2 of a car to be retarded.

At each side of each track rail 1, are shoe beams 3 and 4, on which are mounted brake .whereby to move therewit :application abovereferred to. 'are employed to'center the pairs of brake --shoes for each track rail, in a symmetrical shoes 5 and 6, in any desired manner, as for example, by tap screws 7 or the like, as in the application of W. K. Howe, S. N, 244,259 filed January 8, 1928.

At each sideof eachrail 1 is an arm car-` ried on pivots 8 and 9, the upper end of each arm being received in a socket 10 in the respective brake beam, while the lowerends of each pair of arms has positioned therebetween a compression spring 11Which is preferably pretensioned soy as to trapped, or initial, tension.

An .operating bar is shown at l2, for operating an angle lever 13, pivotedin fixed contain a -supports 14 and pivoted at 15 to a cross rod 16, which passes transversely below the track rails 1, and has fastened to it the chairs 17 as by screws 18, the pivots 9, carrying the arms 91, being mounted in the lchairs'17 YOn moving the bar 12 in a direction at right angles to the plane of the paper, cross rod.16 is moved transversely of the track rails to thereby move the pivot poi-nts 9 either toward, or away from, the corresponding'v pivot points 8, which latter are fixed in position, whereby to vary the distance between each pair of pivotpoints Sand 9. Thisvaries the degree of retardation exerted by each pair Of brake shoes 5 and 6, 'as' is obvious,- andV in thesame manner as set forth .in the Howe manner relatively to the rails.-

- As shown in Figs; 1 and 2, eachvof the brake beams 4 has an upst-anding flange 19 projecting a/shortdis-tance above the` 4flat horizontal face 61 of its respective brake shoe. yThus there is provided by the brakte shoe ange [side of each rail, aflat horizontal surface with l,an upstanding flange at the edge, spaced from the' vvlieel whereby, should a car passing through the retarder, climb out fromy between the'brake' shoes 5 and 6, it is prevented from ridnd Oft" of 'the top ofthe retarderby the Wheel lflanges contacting with the proj ecting shoulders or flanges 19. In this manner it is quite out ofthe questiony for a car Springs `181 A 'Upper Voccurs in Figs. 1

ed, in

f sense.

which climbs out of a retarder to ride oi of the retarder and cause damage of any kind.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a standard form of brake beam is used, and the projection of flange 19, is obtained by decreasing the height of the inner brake shoe, by cutting a portion off of the vertical leg thereof, and hence the flanges 19 are shown at only the inner side of each rail.

Shown in Fig. 3 is a slightly modiied form of the invention wherein the brake shoe 20 is of normal depth from top to bottom, and deeper than the inner shoes in Figs. 1 and 2, so that it would normally have its upper horizontal surface 201 in line with the highest point 22 of its shoe beam 21. In this form, however, the brake beam 21 is formed with the shoulder 22 of somewhat greater than normal height, whereby to project above the Jface 201 ot one standard form of brake shoe'20, a distance substantially the same as and 2.

v Furthermore, this shoulder 22 can also be increased in width at its upper end, as at 221 in Fig. 3A, so as to extend inwardly over the Vface 201, toward the wheel flange, to thus decrease the possible wheel travel, in a lateral direction, if the wheel should climb out from between the brake shoes.

In other words, in Figs. 1 and 2 the shoe .beam is standard and the inner brake shoe is shortened in a vertical direction so as to allow the shoulder 19 of its brake beam to Vproject above the top tace of the brake shoe Y to thereby form a wheel retaining shoulder. In the form of Fig. 3, the brake shoe is standard and of usual height, and the brake beam, either the inner one only, or both, are modied from a standard configuration to the extent of slightly extending the upwardly projecting shoulder 22, so as to form the desired ,wheel retaining shoulder above the top face 201 .of the brake shoe 20.

and parallel to the rail of strength and height to prevent a derailment.

2. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination with a pair of runing rails, a shoe beam at each side of each running rail, a brake shoe carried by each shoe beam, the shoe beam and shoe at the flange side of the track rail being formed to constitute a horizontal plane face extending away from the rail with an upstanding shoulder at the rear thereof and parallel to the rail.

3. In a car-retarder of the track brake type, in combination with a pair of running rails, a brake shoe and a brake beam at one side of each rail, a substantially flat horizontal vface on the brake shoe and a shoulder on the beam parallel with the rail and projecting above the face, whereby to prevent car wheels from running o of the tops of the brake shoes and to permit prompt rerailment of such wheels, in the event a car climb up onto the tops of the brake shoes. Y

4. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination with a pair of running rails a brake shoe and a brake beam, at the' flange 1^.-

side of ea-ch rail, a substantially iiat horizontal face on the brake shoeand a shoulder on the beam parallel with the rail and projecting above the Jface, whereby to prevent car wheels from running off of the tops of the brake shoes and to promptly rerail such wheels, in the event a retarded car should climb up onto the tops of the brake shoes. f

In testimony whereof I at'tix my si ature.

v WESLEY v. Mon An `The above rather specific description of f one form of thisk invention has been given solely by way of example, and is not intendmany diilerent physical forms, and is susceptible of various modifications, such forms and modifications are intended to be covered by the present invention, as come within the scope of the lappended claims.

Having described my invention, I now claim 1. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination with a pair of running rails, a shoe beam at each side of each running rail,

a brake shoe carried by each shoe beam, one of .the shoe beams and shoe at each rail being Y,

vformed to constitute a horizontal plane sup- A port face extending away from the rail with an upstanding shoulder at the rear thereof any manner whatsoever, in a limiting Obviously, this invention can assume and all 

